Pilot (2021)

Pilot is the first episode in the first season of The Wonder Years. It aired on September 22, 2021.

Synopsis
Struggling to figure out where he fits in, Dean decides to pursue his calling as "The Great Uniter" and attempts to organize the first integrated baseball game between his team and his friend Brad's team.

Plot Summary
Like Kevin in the original series, Dean is just a regular kid navigating the awkwardness of adolescence. However, Dean must also contend with the often prickly social dynamics that come with being a Black kid in a America at the tail end of the Civil Rights Movement.

He passes his old school, which was shut down due to desegregation, during his morning bus ride. At school, he doesn’t notice the two white kids refusing to drink from the same water fountain, and earnestly pleads with Coach Long to play a baseball game with his friend Brad, not realizing the potentially harmful ramifications of playing against an all-white team. “We go to the same school, we should be able to play each other!”

In class, Dean’s teacher Mrs. Hodges scolds him and his friends for using a “yo mama” joke, insisting they be more like their other classmates. Looking back at the moment, grown-up Dean has trouble deciphering whether or not the teacher was racist — he remembers her being so, but also notes that she paid special attention to Black students she felt had potential.

Cast

 * Elisha Williams as Dean Williams
 * Dulé Hill as Bill Williams
 * Saycon Sengbloh as Lillian Williams
 * Laura Kariuki as Kim Williams
 * Amari O'Neil as Cory Long
 * Julian Lerner as Brad Hitman
 * Milan Ray as Keisa Clemmons

Music

 * soothe me | SAM & DAVE
 * dean on his bike


 * i need you more | DULÉ HILL
 * dean hears his dad's song playing on the radio


 * people get ready | CURTIS MAYFIELD & THE IMPRESSIONS
 * on the radio


 * green onions | BOOKER T. & THE M.G'S
 * students coming to school


 * step back | JOHN COVERT AND THE CRYSTAL IMAGE
 * dean at the baseball game


 * change gonna come | OTIS REDDING
 * dean sees the kiss